HOW DID THE FILMMAKING TRADE FARE in 2009? While many businesses had a hard time last year, movie producers generally made money, even managing to do eight percent more business than 2008.

What about filmmaking prospects for 2010? Prognosticators are similarly upbeat, especially with the imminent showing of potential blockbusters like ?Sherlock Holmes,? ?Iron Man 2,? ?Sex and the City 2,? ?Nine,? ?Valentine?s Day,? and Leo DiCaprio?s latest starrer, Martin Scorsese?s ?Shutter Island.?

Robert Downey Jr. creates the biggest waves, because he?s starring in both ?Sherlock Holmes? and ?Iron Man 2.? His feat is made even more impressive by the fact that, only a few years ago, his career screeched to a halt while he went into rehab to finally get a grip on his addictive and self-destructive demons. Obviously, he?s pulled that difficult feat off, hence his successful comeback as an A-list star.

?Valentine?s Day? is a must-see, because it top-bills many popular stars, from Julia Roberts to Anne Hathaway, plus Ashton Kutcher, Shirley Maclaine, Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, etc. The film is about a number of couples who fall in and out of love (and back again) in the course of the movie?s composite tale.

Also an all-star production is the new musical, ?Nine,? with Daniel Day-Lewis playing an infamous lothario and top female stars like Sophia Loren, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Stacey Ferguson, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Marion Cotillard portraying some of the many women in his life.

Preview audiences have been split on the film?s achievement, with some raving over it and others describing it as an ambitious mess. All the more reason, therefore, for us to make up our own minds about it when it finally plays in town.

As for the second ?Sex and the City? movie, it?s a no-brainer that it?s going to end up as a big hit. The big question now is, will it top the first movie?s huge grosses?

Don?t look now, but there?s a much smaller movie showing early this year that, if it clicks with viewers, could end up as a sleeper hit. It?s the remake of ?The Karate Kid,? now retitled ?The Kung Fu Kid,? with the mentor role played by Jackie Chan and the kid played by Will Smith?s young son, Jaden.

A couple of years ago, Jaden impressed viewers with his precociously spot-on performance in one of his dad?s starrers. Now, in ?The Kung Fu Kid,? Jaden comes to his own as potentially the first big new star of 2010. Yes, Jacky Chan provides strong support, but the new movie?s success clearly hinges on Jaden?s performance and charisma.

Finally, from small to really big: The blockbuster of the season, ?Avatar,? has just made even bigger waves by becoming, after only a few weeks of general release, only the fourth motion picture to make more than a billion dollars at the box-office?and definitely still counting.

The movie?s exceptional and outstanding triumph is made even more remarkable by the fact that its visionary director also made the most successful movie ever, ?Titanic.?

What accounts for Cameron?s Midas touch? He?s a great storyteller who knows how to get viewers involved in the tales he tells. Other prospective directors, take your cue from that.